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Thursday, January 12, 2017

Spark Joy

konmari
Verb. To konmari, to follow the process outlined in the book "The Magical Art of Tidying Up" by Marie Kondo.

Nothing is more necessary in the bleak mid-winter than a little dose of joy. What better time to clean out the cobwebs than when you are stuck inside? Spring cleaning has always seemed odd to me. That's when I rush outside and don't give a hoot what my house is like anymore. But in winter, I'm face to face with all my stuff and it can get depressing.

Enter Marie Kondo. She's a tidying guru and much talked about in the media these days. People either love her system or hate it. Interestingly, many of the people who hate it are professional organizers who prefer to sell people complicated systems and more stuff to organize your stuff. When will Westerners learn? This market-driven promise of happiness will only end in tears. Get off the product treadmill and channel your inner upbeat-yet-ruthless tidier!

Kondo does not feel threatened by different philosophies of organization. “I think his method is pretty great too,” she told me later. She leaves room for something that people don’t often give her credit for: that the KonMari method might not be your speed. “I think it’s good to have different types of organizing methods,” she continued, “because my method might not spark joy with some people, but his method might.”

She's confident enough in herself to leave room for others.

A few months ago, I KonMaried my clothes with the help of my daughter, who is ruthlessly unsentimental. I think she might grow up to be a KonMari consultant, if that's still a thing in five more years. Every morning when I open my closet, I am greeted by my favorites. I smile and tackle the day.